Jansen, Cornelius (1822-1894)

Cornelius Jansen, a leader in the Mennonite emigration from Russia to the prairie states in 1873, was born at Tiegenhof, West Prussia, on 2 July 822, the son of Daniel and Anna Buhler Janzen. He lost his mother at the age of ten, and then lived with his uncle Gerhard Penner, elder of the Heubuden congregation, who helped him in his training as a merchant. He was baptized at Tiegenhof. He married Helena von Riesen on 4 May 1848. They were the parents of six children: Margaretha, Peter, Anna, Johannes, Helena, and Cornelius. In 1850 the family emigrated to Berdyansk, Russia, returned to Schidlitz, a suburb of Danzig, in 1852, and went back to Berdyansk in 1856. He served as "the founder and for many years the representative of the Prussian and Mecklenburg Consulate" at Berdyansk. In the early 1870s when the Mennonites felt their way of life threatened by the new conscription law, Jansen was a tireless leader in the move of immigration to America, and was consequently banished from Russia on 26 May 1873. After visiting friends in Prussia and Quakers in England, he with his family arrived at Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, on 13 August 1873. They moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1874, and then to their permanent home in Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1876. Here they joined the church founded by the immigrants from Russia under Elder Andreas. In the United States Cornelius Jansen and his son Peter continued their work in behalf of the brotherhood by petitioning the United States government for permission to settle the Russian Mennonites in compact groups and by helping the immigrants find new homes. He also influenced his Quaker friends to give financial aid to the poorer settlers. He was also an active crusader for temperance both in Europe and America. His published works (pamphlets) were: Sammlung von Notizen über America (Danzig, 1872), Gedanken englischer und deutscher Friedensfreunde, Gedanlten über die Pflichten der Christen, Gedanken über den indirekten Militärdienst, Ausschluss der American Paper als gegen Krieg zeugend, Gedanken über Religionsfreiheit. All were published at the author's expense by the printer Paul Thieme at Danzig, the first in April 1872, the others in August 1872. In 1873 appeared Adressen an die Christenheit, Edwin Groening, printer. Pamphlets three and four were also translated into English.

Cornelius Jansen died on 14 December 1894, at his home in Beatrice and was buried in the nearby Mennonite cemetery. Some 112 letters and telegrams received by the family at this time indicated what he meant to his neighbors, friends, and the Mennonites whom he had helped. Through his deep convictions he became the Moses who led his people from Prussia and Russia to the "promised land" and inaugurated a migration movement to North America in magnitude far beyond his anticipation.